The ” Modi”fied article of BBC can be read here:

In what can be termed as acute embarrassment to major media houses, a “Modi”fication of articles that were published, based on GDP of Gujarat state was done hurriedly. TodayBusiness Standard, one of India’s leading newspaper, carried an article by AK Bhattacharya, with a set of figures that depict growth in Gujarat, trying to drive home a point that ‘growth of Gujarat is a myth’. Soon, other media houses like Rediff, and surprisingly the British Broadcasting Corporation joined the bandwagon. this resulted in print media splashing articles quoting the figures quoted by Business Standard. BBC even went to the extent of nailing Gujarat with a story titled “Is Gujarat’s Red Hot Economy a Myth?” But soon followed counter figures, with accurate proof, which put the very same media houses to shame. The article published byBusiness Standard quotes the GDP of Gujarat as 6.3%, where as the actual figures stood at a towering 10.08%.

The credit of exposing the leading media houses and their credibility goes to Vijay (@centerofright) who exposed the mammoth difference between the real figures and what was contorted and published. With the real facts presented before them,Business Standard was forced to edit their original article and issue a clarification that read thus: This column has been modified to incorporate corrected data. (Read the article here).

The step taken by Business Standard of publishing the original article without conforming to real data and their subsequent correction led to an outright flurry over Twitter, the micro-blogging site. There were rampant discussions that questioned the credibility of leading media houses and the news they present the common man with. Even the reliability and integrity of BBC stood at stake. A shamefaced BBC had to change the title of their article to ‘Gujarat IS a Red Hot Economy’.

“It is silly that reputed media houses made mistake in a topic like GDP of Gujarat when Growth of Gujarat is a heavily debated issue.” Many tweeple raised their concern.

It is such a sad reflection on politicisation of mainstream media in this country.The political affilations of them was anyway clear from the breaking of Radia tapes .They are in such a hurry to run down any party which is anti congress.Regret to see such lazy journalism from BBC, too. An anxiety for “Political correctness” combined with craving for comfort can lead the incompetent journos in to such traps.Lesson for the indian as well as foreign media.Get rid of deadwood journalism.Sack the journos.